Mid-year Cybersecurity Trends Review: What You Need to Know to Mitigate Risk

Finchen/Shutterstock.com

The focus should be on the basic requirements in 2016 and the more complex derived security controls in 2017.

Maria Horton is CEO of EmeSec, a company supporting customers in adopting the cybersecurity and risk mitigation best practices they need to build competitive advantage in today’s connected world.

Halfway through 2016, it is safe to say the cyber phrase of the year is likely to be “regulatory compliance.” It is interesting the focus is on liability (corporate and personal) as the sheer volume, diversity and complexity of cyberthreats accelerate.

Regulatory compliance is not just a government issue.

» Get the best federal technology news and ideas delivered right to your inbox. Sign up here.

As commercial companies look to offer innovation to their customers, their operations and security resources must address in both a proactive and responsive manner the mandates of controlled, unclassified information, cybersecurity framework requirements and human resource challenges. The result is more pressure on internal operations and resources.

Distributed Security Takes Center Stage

Until recently, only large, geographically dispersed enterprises needed to create security plans that capture distributed systems, mobile workforce and endpoints.

However, with the accelerated adoption of public and private clouds, even small and mid-sized businesses need to plan for their security strategy as if they were distributed enterprises.

This includes understanding organizational and vendor-based cloud-hosting data protection. Distributed security also means identifying liability rules from both a holistic and granular view of system, its boundaries and preparing for incident response strategies that bridge those boundaries.

To adequately prepare, we encourage businesses to invest in cyber crisis planning, proactive reputational protection and damage prevention, as well as incident response operations and training that address the distributed organizational data and information.

New Security Compliance Requirements in the Spotlight

Many commercial entities, including government contractors and suppliers, need to closely monitor newly released and upcoming National Institute of Standards and Technology cybersecurity standards to ensure they comply with the latest security requirements.

In addition to established compliance requirements like the Federal Information Security Management Act and the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, new requirements include compliance with NIST SP 800-171 to meet controlled, unclassified information and controlled technical information requirements.  

Without the proper preparation of business processes, employee training, third-party SLAs, etc., your business may face the multiple costs of noncompliance.

The focus should be on the basic requirements in 2016 and the more complex derived security controls in 2017.

Benefits of Matching Internal IT and Outsourcing

Your company’s cybersecurity strategy should not be predicated solely on the IT department’s technology decisions. Needless to say, the IT organization needs to be able to respond to new threats and adopt best practices however cybersecurity connected to your business and go-to-market message need to be reviewed to determine liabilities in case of a breach, potential areas of data ownership concerns, etc.

The benefit of independent auditors and compliance officers is the transparency and objectivity to emerging standards and blind spots of IT or governance.  

For many organizations, the use of outsourced chief information security officer-as-a-service and other capabilities is becoming the risk mitigation strategy of choice– providing validation as well as a fresh perspective to meeting the due diligence requirements demanded by boards and customers.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.